Should a rape in New Delhi concern us in California?

Indian women in Hyderabad, India, participate in a march to mourn the death of a gang rape victim. AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A

As the San Francisco Chronicle’s commentary editor, I receive daily commentary from writers all over the world seeking publication. My general rule is to look for commentary on issues Chronicle readers can affect — through the ballot box, public pressure or direct action. Commentary on the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman riding a public bus in New Delhi, India, didn’t neatly fit that rule.

But women’s concerns about personal safety know no borders and misogyny is deeply entrenched in many cultures, not just Indian culture. The details of the Dec. 16 beating and rape in New Delhi are so heinous, I cannot bear to read them.

Bay Area organizations have used news of the crime to highlight concerns about the mistreatment of Indian women — and the lack of consequences for that mistreatment — and found receptive audiences here. Narika, a Berkeley-based nonprofit concerned with domestic violence issues in South Asia, held a vigil Dec. 28 in front of the Indian consulate in San Francisco. The still-unnamed woman died on Dec. 29, prompting the Indo-American community leaders in Fremont to hold a ceremony on New Year’s Day to mourn her death.

While the incidence of forcible rape in California has fallen in the last 30 years, from 58 for every 100,000 residents in 1980 to 20 in 2011, violence against women remains part of our culture. Unreported rapes are recognized as a problem, as is the documented failure of many police departments to make sure rape kits collected from victims are processed at crime labs and the rapists convicted.

Some argue that the United States should ratify CEDAW, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, that has languished in the U.S. Senate for 30 years. Only eight countries have failed to adopt this “bill of rights” for women — the United States, Somalia, Sudan and Iran among them. Ratification would send a message of solidarity among nations to address this most prevalent form of violence. Adoption would set an example for the rest of the world that advancing the rights of women and girls is an American value — and one worth adopting.

So rape in New Delhi does concern us in California. What can we do about it?